I'll Take a Stab At It
by DarkElements10
Summary: James is stabbed. Gustavo is murdered. Big Time Rush is framed for the crime. Now they have to race to find out who is behind these attacks and why before it's too late. NO SLASH; Just Angst, WAFF, and Brotherly Love. -SHORT STORY-
1. Chapter 1

**I'll Take A Stab At It**

**By: Riley  
**

**Summary**** – James is stabbed. Gustavo is murdered. Big Time Rush is framed for the crime. Now they have to race to find out who is behind these attacks and why before it's too late. NO SLASH.  
**

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**01**

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_If James knew that he was going to be stabbed on stage that night, he would have made sure that he looked his best. Even in the face of death, he wanted to be sure that no one could say that he didn't look good. But that was just James, he could probably have a gun sitting in his face and his first thought would be who would get his lucky comb. Nah, that's not true, everyone knows that it's not true. He would have tried to make sure that everyone else around him was safe; he would make sure that he was the one that got hurt and no one else. And ironically, that's what happened to him. He was just making sure that someone didn't fall and hurt themselves when it happened. That one moment in time threw our lives into a tail spin and it wasn't going to end anytime soon._

James waited offstage with Kendall, Logan, and Carlos as they waited for their opening call to be brought out onstage. Like he usually did before the show started, he was off by himself, trying to keep his nerves down. He was bouncing up and down on his toes, shaking his hands out, psyching himself up for the concert. All around him, stagehands were running back and forth, making sure that things were ready for the show.

Wires were hanging all over the place, pumping electricity into the stands that they were going to be on, as well as to the floor of the stage; it was going to power the floor to open so the trampolines could be lifted from underneath the stage. This tour, it was bigger than anything they had ever done before, they were going to take all of the energy that they put into working as Big Time Rush into that show and they were going to give it to their audience. That energy was already coursing through James' body, amplifying his nerves that much more.

But it seemed that everyone was nervous, for things were being checked and triple checked that night. It was the first night of the tour, so that was understandable. It seemed like the whole stadium was filled with nervousness, as if it knew what was going to happen before anybody else did.

James looked up as a stagehand came his way, moving so fast that he didn't notice a wire on the ground in front of him and he tripped over it. He pitched towards James, his hands out, and James quickly moved to catch him before he hit the ground. "Hey, dude," James grinned as he grabbed the guy's shoulder, making sure the two of them were steady. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," The man stood up and nodded, quickly touching the brim of his hat, his ring flashing in the dim lights as he did so. "Yeah, I'm good, thanks." He patted James on the shoulder. "Have a good show, tonight."

"Thanks," James smiled and nodded back before he started to shake out his hands once more.

He waited for their names to be called and started to jog out onstage, but he stopped mid-step, a confused look crossing his face. His pain hurt, like _really _hurt. If he had to explain it, it felt like his side was on fire. He looked out towards the audience and saw horrified expressions looking back at him. Slowly lowering his gaze, James gaped as he looked at the red spot on his shirt that was starting to get bigger with each passing second. His mouth hanging open in shock, James slowly inched his hands towards the bottom of his shirt. He noticed that they were so pale that he could see each of the veins in his hands. His fingers shook hard as the grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it open, letting out a choked cry as he saw the stab wound on the side of his stomach.

The first thing Carlos noticed was that there were only three people on stage and the audience in front of him looked confused. He tore his eyes away from the crowd and the blinding lights to look over at his band mates and best friends. He felt his breath catch in his throat as he watched James sway on the stage, his hands holding his side. He could see something slipping between James' fingers and splatter onto the stage floor. Carlos turned and broke into a run, grabbing James as he fell. He looked into James's eyes and all Carlos could see was pain and shock mingled with fear. He felt James's grip on his arm as he struggled to stay standing; his nails scraping into his skin.

"Carlos," James rasped. "Car-"

"James," Carlos screamed as James's eyes rolled and he collapsed into Carlos's chest pulling them to Logan's knees. By this point, Kendall and Logan were at Carlos's side. The lights around the arena were coming up, just as bright as the stage lights.

Stagehands were running around and barking orders at each other, the audience had started to scream or murmur amongst themselves, the nervous energy hitting the guys in waves, causing their adrenaline to spike even higher. But Carlos couldn't hear anything other than James' gasps for air. Somebody touched his shoulder and he looked up to see Logan beside him. His face was pale and his brown eyes were trained on James. Behind him paramedics were pushing their way through the stage hands and security to get to James. Carlos scrambled to his feet as he was pushed away and stood beside Kendall who had grabbed onto Carlos' elbow. Carlos felt his elbow go cold as Kendall moved his arm to round his shoulders pulling him into a hug. Carlos breathed deeply and realized with a start that he was crying. He couldn't remember crying it just occurred to him. Carlos suddenly felt embarrassed, having started to cry, and he tried to pull away but Kendall just pulled him back again.

Carlos relaxed as Kendall squeezed him tightly.

"Carlos, it's gonna be fine." Logan whispered as he moved to Carlos' other side, placing a shaking hand on his shoulder. "James will be fine."

Backstage, a shadowy figure pulled off his hat, coat, and sweat pants, street clothes on underneath, and tossed them into a trash can. He was sure to hide his clothes under some trash under some trash, before slipping out one of the emergency exits and into darkness…

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**A/N: **So I had this idea for a while, but didn't really know how to start it. So I started it here. I already know who the culprit is behind the crime(s) and I hope that I can throw in enough clues for you guys to guess as the story goes on.

Cheers,

-Riles


	2. Chapter 2

**02**

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_Hospitals have never been one of James' favorite places in the world. He knew that it helped people, but the fact that he had been there so many times from so many hockey games (and the stupid ideas that Kendall roped him into) he thought he wouldn't be in one if he was in a band. Hospitals are where you always get bad news. But this time, the bad news that he received would ruin his and his friends' reputations. And it wasn't even their fault._

The chairs were hard but what was to be expected at a hospital. Nothing was ever really comfortable there. Everything was white, which just made things blinding and reminded you that things had to be clean. People were scurrying back and forth, not answering your questions. Then there were the families that were waiting for the good or bad news. So far, there hadn't been any bad news given around them that was good. They were just waiting on the news that they were going to get about James.

Mrs. Knights at in her chair, reading a magazine, bouncing her leg up and down. It was obvious that she was trying to stay calm for the other three boys, just so she wouldn't alarm them. But she was a mother, so she couldn't hide her shaking fingers or her pale face. It didn't help much that the half hour before she was constantly pacing up and down the hall, barking at anyone that came her way, wondering what was going on.

Carlos stared at the bright light in the ceiling. His eyes burned with a mixture of the light and his own pain for his best friend. Kendall was right beside him yet so far away. Logan was looking at the door at the end of the corridor. The corridor stretched past rooms and a nurse's station. The windows were frosted, so that just made it harder for him to see what was going on. He wanted to be a doctor before, now…he wasn't sure if he could handle the stress of it.

A small cough at the door made them turn to attention. The four turned to look at a nurse and a serious looking doctor. "Mrs. Knight, I presume." She said politely looking at her and then scanning the boys on either side of her. "I'm Richards; the doctor that is treating James."

"Yes," Mrs. Knight said softly. "Is he alright?"

"He had a successful surgery." The doctor paused. "We put stitches in and closed up his wound, we cleaned it up as well."

"Oh, good" Mrs. Knight finally broke into a small smile.

"But there is something else that you need to know." Dr. Richards looked over at the boys before motioning for Mrs. Knight to follow them off down the hall. Kendall, Logan, and Carlos exchanged glances, all wishing they could hear what was being said. Logan slowly shifted his chair down the hall until he was in the perfect position to hear what they were saying.

He moved back when he had heard enough.

"He's going to need to stay overnight so we can be sure that he's ok," Logan relayed to Kendall and Carlos as they sat in the waiting room, after overhearing his doctor, Dr. Richards, and Mrs. Knight talking quietly. "The stab wound wasn't too deep, but he's going to need stitches and be watched in case of infection, vomiting blood, internal bleeding, and distention."

"He's already _stayed_ overnight," Kendall groaned. "Its morning already, he has to stay all day today, too?" He let out a growl of frustration.

"Distention?" Carlos repeated, wrinkling his nose.

"Swelling." Kendall clarified. He rolled his eyes. "All those years listening to Logan babble on and on about doctor stuff and I actually picked something up." He turned and gave Logan a cheesy smile.

Logan rolled his eyes.

Carlos ran his hands over his face and then turned his head to the side, peeking over at Kendall and Logan. They didn't look too bothered by what was going on. Carlos frowned. How could they not care about their best friend who was lying in a hospital bed after being attacked?

"He wasn't attacked, exactly," Logan said, letting Carlos know that he had been thinking out loud. "Maybe someone…" he thought for a moment. "Well, I don't really know what happened. I wasn't there." He rubbed his hands together. "I was already on stage."

"So was I." Kendall agreed. "So I didn't see what happened either." He shrugged.

"Nothing happened," Logan insisted. "He must have fallen into something before he went on stage. There were wires everywhere and not all of them were taped down."

Kendall raised an eyebrow. He didn't want to call Logan out on it, but that seemed really far-fetched and almost impossible. You can't have a stab wound like that after falling onto something when tripping over a chord on the ground. None of the stagehands would have allowed something sharp to poke out of the ground towards them; they took every precaution they could think of when it came to their performances, so nothing like this would happen. But it still did.

So what if it wasn't an accident?

Kendall looked over at Carlos and Logan. He could tell by the looks on their faces that they had the same thought. The wound couldn't have been an accident; he really was attacked by someone. It could have been a random fan, trying to get some of his blood to keep for themselves. It could have been a stalker, they've had about two of those already and their security team had gotten rid of them pretty quickly.

"Let's just say," Logan said slowly. "For the sake of this whole thing, that this _wasn't_ a fan that snuck backstage and got a little bit too excited." Carlos nodded. "Our security is usually pretty good and keeping people that aren't supposed to be backstage from getting backstage, right?"

"Right." Kendall concurred.

"So, what are the chances that the person was _supposed_ to be backstage?" Logan continued.

Carlos gave him a skeptical look. "I thought you said that this was nothing but an accident."

"Well, I can only say that until I have enough proof that tells me that it wasn't." Logan said quickly. "You know, like innocent until proven guilty. Accident until proven-"

"Murder attempt?" Kendall broke in.

"I didn't say it was attempted murder," Logan said quickly. "I just wonder if it was an accident. It could have either been a fan that _somehow_ snuck backstage or it could have been someone that James might have pissed off and wanted to get revenge. It could also be someone that masked themselves as part of our crew, just to get close to him. It happens all the time. It happened with Kirk Cameron."

"Not exactly," Kendall spoke up. "Kirk's stalker basically moved his obsession onto the younger…kid, and said that he was going to be on set that day to hurt him, so they had extra security. We just have the regular security that we always get."

All of a sudden their cell phones started to go off with different sounds that acknowledged texts coming in and people calling them. "It must be the others from the PalmWoods," Carlos noted. "Or it's our parents." He added to Logan. "What about James' mom?"

"The Hospital would have called her." Kendall replied. He pulled his phone from his pocket. "I'm going to call Katie and tell her what the doctor said." He told the other two before pushing his way through the double doors and starting to walk down the corridor towards the front of the hospital. As soon as he stepped into the lobby, Kelly pounced on him.

"Hey," She said walking up to him. "Where are you going?"

"For a walk," Kendall replied and then lifted his hand, waving his phone. "I was going to call Katie too, too, to tell her that James is ok." Kelly studied him carefully. He was the leader of the group of friends, so he would try and stay as calm and rational as possible, so the others would stay positive, but she could see it in his eyes. He was close to cracking; he wanted to scream and demand that the doctors fix his friend.

Btu he couldn't do it.

Kelly sighed and gave a short nod. "Well don't go outside." She warned him. "The press is lurking everywhere." She noticed the bags under his eyes. "Did you sleep last night?"

"No"

"Did anyone?"

Kendall shook his head again. He then noticed that he wasn't being yelled at or berated. In fact, there was no yelling at all. His green eyes moved around the lobby before they returned to Kelly once more. "Where's Gustavo?" he asked. "I figured that he would be here…" They were Gustavo Rocque's dogs; nothing would keep him away if something was going on.

"Last he told me, he was answering calls from the press, trying to keep them away from here," Kelly rolled her eyes. "But as soon as something like this happens, you can't keep them away. He said he would be here soon, so I don't know what's keeping him." She reached out and patted Kendall's shoulder. "James is going to be fine." She reminded him.

Kendall smiled and nodded back. He looked up at the TV, a frown coming over his face. It was the local news station, showing pictures of the hospital that they were in. Kendall groaned as he walked closer, running his hands over his face. Through the glass doors at the front of the hospital, he could see camera flashes.

"What can you tell us about what happened, Daniel?" The blonde asked. The screen showed a tall brunette, man standing in front of the entrance to the hospital. It was obvious from the way that he was dressed that he was an off-duty police officer that had been called to help secure the area so no one would get in.

"It's Officer Fallon and, Helen; I can tell you that no one has officially released any details about the incident or James's condition. All four members of Big Time Rush are still inside the building and have not left since last night when James has arrived. But no one except for their friends, family, and the officers that are assigned to this case shall be allowed to enter the premises."

"So you think that this is a case?" The reporter eagerly jumped onto the statement. "You don't think that what happened tonight was an accident?"

"No further questions." Officer Fallon turned and walked off screen.

"Thank you." The reporter gave the camera a tight smile, obviously disappointed with the lack of dirt that she managed to get. "We'll check up on that a little later." Helen smiled. "Back to you-"

Kendall turned away from the TV as he punched in the number for the apartment in to the phone. He was sure that Katie wouldn't be awake that early, she probably didn't even know what happened last night, she had been forced to go home with Jo, Camille, and Stephanie after things fell into chaos. He quickly left a message before turning back to the TV once again, seeing a flash of a picture of him and his friends move across the screen.

"Good morning, it's Friday October 24th. The headlines today for today…." Kendall zoned out for a few seconds, at this point, not caring about what was going on with the rest of the world. He waited impatiently for the news broadcast about him and his best friends. Finally their picture came up on screen once more. Kendall couldn't help but wince at the picture that they had chosen. "James Diamond of the band, Big Time Rush, was stabbed last night before their show in LA could start. The incident occurred offstage before the start of the concert, but James was seen stumbling onstage moments after his name was announced, holding onto his stomach. Witnesses said they quickly spotted blood and became alarmed. This footage was captured at the time."

"What footage?" Kendall asked himself, his eyes growing wide.

The video was shaky; it blurred and cleared over and over again as the camera zoomed in. The screen showed the concert starting, pyro going off and screams erupting all over the place. Then there was a sudden hush as James appeared onstage. He stumbled once, holding onto the side of his stomach. He jerked once and turned his head towards the other three. Kendall watched himself stare in shock as Carlos said James' name. Then it showed Carlos running over to James and catching him before he hit the stage floor, Kendall and Logan moving quickly after that.

Someone moved in the view of the camera and when it came into focus again James was on the floor and people were crowding round him.

The video cut there and the reporter came back on screen.

But Kendall couldn't focus on that news report.

It was the next one that caused his mouth to drop open in shock and his heart to fall to his feet.

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**A/N: **At this point, I'm trying to figure out whether or not to have other characters appear as the story goes along to enhance the mystery, but at the same time, I also think that having BTR as the focus characters would be better so you're definitely surprised by the end. Thanks for all of the reviews for the first chapter; I didn't expect to get 10 so quickly!

Cheers,

-Riles


	3. Chapter 3

**03**

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_A half hour after James was stabbed…_

Gustavo let out a growl as his phone buzzed once again. It hadn't stopped ringing for the past half hour and he was starting to get annoyed; he didn't want to answer it, because he knew that something had happened at the concert. He couldn't get there that night and he gave Kelly strict orders only to call him if something went wrong.

"And of course the dogs would manage to destroy something while I was gone." Gustavo said to himself as he reached out and slammed his laptop shut with such force he was sure that he had cracked the screen in it. He leaned back in his seat and ran his hands over his face. "Either that or Griffin has found a new way to drive me crazy!"

The phone stopped ringing at that moment and Gustavo looked over at it warily.

His growl deepened in his chest as he reached out and grabbed onto the phone. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" He screamed into the phone.

"Gustavo," Kelly's voice came through the phone. He immediately noted her panicky tone, he could hear her heels clacking over the ground, probably going through the parking garage, and while she sounded out of breath, there was also a hint of hysteria in her voice. "Gustavo, something happened to James. He's on his way to the hospital; I'm going to meet the boys there."

"What?" Gustavo snapped. "What do you mean something happened to the dog?"

"He's losing a lot of blood," Kelly said. Gustavo could hear the sound of her fumbling with something and then a loud slam; she must have gotten into her car. "He suddenly stumbled on stage, holding onto his side, blood falling into the stairs." She took a deep, shuddery breath. "We think he's been stabbed. You have to get over here."

"Kelly, from what I know about this sort of thing, I'm going to be fighting the press about this," Gustavo said, trying to push away the feeling of panic that rose in his throat. "I'll be over there as soon as I can." He hung up the phone and opened his laptop, to start a write up, of what he was going to tell the press when e-mails started to come in along with phone calls.

He already had three e-mails, waiting for a statement.

That caused his anxiety to spike even more. On the outside he hated the four men that he affectionately called his 'dogs' that was part of his image as the tough and somewhat of a jerkass, Gustavo Rocque. But even he couldn't deny that the guys had quickly moved from being his clients to being four of his best friends. They worked together well and they had always found a way to help him whenever he needed it. Big Time Rush was the first boy band that had been successful in almost 10 years and he was grateful for everything that they did for him. They wanted to be a success as much as they wanted to help Gustavo be a success, no matter how much he belittled them. Because of that, if something happened to the boys, his berserk button went off and he was going to defend them the best that he could.

Even if he had to defend them from the press, so they could get their privacy, and to keep the rumors at bay. He knew that the rumors were going to pop up in a matter of hours, so he had to get moving as quickly as possible.

He was so wrapped up in his work, taking call after call from the press, trying to get information from Mrs. Knight, Kelly, Kendall, Logan, and Carlos, sending e-mails, and fielding less than important tasks that he hadn't noticed that he wasn't alone.

A dark figure had been standing in the doorway for the past 10 minutes, watching him. His left hand was at his side, his fingers twitching, the other was behind his back, hovering in the air a few inches away from the weapon that was tucked into the back of the waist band of his pants. He reached out and slowly, quietly, closed the door to Gustavo's room, locking it behind him.

Gustavo only looked up when the figure slowly started to walk across the room towards him. His eyes narrowed with fury.

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" He shouted. The figure didn't seem intimidated by Gustavo's scream, unlike everyone else that he worked with. The figure didn't even hesitate in his slow walk across the room. "_WHAT DO YOU WANT?! I'M BUSY!"_

"To make this look good," the figure replied, his lips curling into a sinister smile. Gustavo opened his mouth to scream again, to send the figure out of his office and back where they came, but froze when the figure pulled his arms from behind his back and pointed a gun towards him. "I want to see _the_ Gustavo Rocque look scared of me for once in his life. I want to revel in this look on your face for _years_ to come!"

"Don't-"

The gunshot was painful, the sound was deafening.

Gustavo let out a cry of pain as he grabbed onto his shoulder, the force of the shot knocking him out of his chair. The pain blinded him for a few minutes, he couldn't see. When the image of his office came back, he let out another scream of pain. It felt like he had a hot poker shove through his shoulder. The blood that seeped through his fingers just made everything that more real.

He looked up as the figure stood above him, the smirk ever present on his face. Gustavo felt tears falling down his cheeks. He knew what was going to happen, he didn't want it to. "Please…" he begged, watching as the gun was moved back to the waistband of the jeans. "Please don't' do this…I'll do whatever you want. But please don't do this."

"Gustavo Rocque," the figure said with a slight sigh. "I expected more from you." He disappeared from Gustavo's view for a moment, but then came back, holding onto a night stand. "You were making your comeback, going from a zero to a hero with Big Time Rush, having hit after hit after 9 years. Too bad it all has to end this way. It _has_ to end this way."

Gustavo squeezed his eyes shut as the figure raised the mic stand above his head.

The first blow to his head knocked Gustavo out. The second was the one that killed him. It was just as well that he died quickly, the figure continued to beat Gustavo over the head until what was left was a bloody pulp. He then turned the microphone stand around and started to stab him in the chest. The sound of each stab was similar to the sound of a knife being jabbed into a melon; squishy, gushy, yet firm.

The figure didn't stop until the room was filled with the smell of blood and Gustavo's body was almost unrecognizable if not for the sunglasses that were on the floor, the yellow lenses spattered with blood, and the rings on his fingers.

The figure tossed the microphone stand aside carelessly, and then turned and unlocked the office door, leaving the room and closing it behind him.

It had worked perfectly.

Everything went well, and he knew that he wasn't going to get caught. There was no evidence, he had a tight alibi put up, and he wasn't even scared of being caught. He was slightly hopeful that he would get caught, just so things would be more interesting. The police would be shocked that he was the one that committed the crime; someone like him would be completely unsuspecting. But that was the idea. To install fear into people's lives. So they would be aware that it's not just one kind of person that could create this kind of terror.

Fear is hailed as one of the strongest emotions of them all, next to joy. But joy and love and life are boring; fear, dread and death on the other hand are a little more interesting if not entertaining. That was the method of this murder; this calculated and completely thought out murder. Be it with a mallet, a brick, a plank or a shovel, it's all the same. It's brutal, messy and somewhat comical, especially if you use a shovel. There's nothing quite like a hearing the metallic _clang! _As a shovel bounces off the back of someone's head, turning their skin and bone into a lumpy mess of flesh and blood. The brick to the head is purely improvised; a weapon often used when the murderer is a blind fit of rage or leaked insanity (insanity which everyone secretly harbors in the deepest recesses of their soul).

He stared at the blood on his hands before turning around to look into the office once more, looking through the glass door. His eyes followed the dark red river spreading slowly across the floor, splattered on the wall and on the ceiling. He realized that his breath was coming in short gasps. Blood pounded in his temples. He felt exhilarated. Excited.

He doubled over suddenly as his stomach cramped. The world spun and he had to turn away to retch against the wall. He watched his lunch come back up. Then there was nothing left to throw up. But he kept on heaving.

This wasn't a dream. He had just killed a man. Cleanly, swiftly. He had even briefly enjoyed it. The blood on his hands was so very, very real...

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**A/N: **Chronologically speaking, this chapter happens in between 1 and 2. Some people wanted to see Gustavo's murder, so I decided to do it as a separate chapter before going on with the rest of the story.

Cheers,

-Riles


	4. Chapter 4

**04**

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James' eyes fluttered. It took him a couple of minutes to be able to open his eyes completely, he was so tired. He knew that he was in the hospital, the bed wasn't comfortable in the slightest, and he wasn't lying against his silk pillow case so it wouldn't damage his hair. He could already feel his hair breaking.

Yeah, that was his first concern, whether or not his hair was being treated properly.

His second thought was that his stomach hurt and itched like crazy. James slowly lifted his arms; the first time he tried they dropped to his sides almost immediately. The second time, they were up for a few seconds before they dropped. The anesthesia was slowly wearing off. He finally was able to move his arms to hold them above his head. He had an IV in one arm and a pulse oximeter on his finger.

"I must be around Logan too much," he said to himself, his voice croaking with the effort.

James placed his hands on his stomach, leaving them there for a moment before slowly sliding them under the blankets on his bed. He pulled up the hem of his hospital gown and ran his hand over his stomach, finding the bandage that was covering his stab wound. He could feel the stitches that were under it.

Everything came back to him then. The concert, the stage hand falling into him, him going out on stage, him feeling woozy, looking at the blood that was dripping onto the stage, and him blacking out. It all came crashing back so fast that he didn't know what to think. He was sure that it was an accident; no one would want to hurt him on purpose.

His eyes widened. _Where are my friends?_

As if he had asked that question out loud, the door opened and the next thing he knew, he was crushed in a hug so strong that only Carlos could give him. James laughed light and slowly dropped his arms loosely around Carlos' neck to hug him back. Kendall and Logan stood by the bed, waiting for Carlos to let their friend go so they could get a chance to hug him as well.

"What happened?" James asked as Kendall pulled away from him. Kendall exchanged glances with Logan and the two kept quiet. James recognized the look, quickly. It was the look that they gave each other when they didn't want to give James some bad news. "What's wrong?"

"James, you were stabbed." Carlos finally said quietly.

"W-what?"

Carlos carefully retold the story about what happened during the concert and James listened quietly. His mind was racing with a million thoughts. _Who would want to hurt me like that? Are they sure it wasn't an accident? Do my Mom and Dad know? Are my friends ok? What's going to happen now? _James reached his hands up to his face and was surprised to find that he was crying. He hastily wiped the tears away from his face, sucking in a deep, shuddery breath. The one thing that he didn't like was not knowing what was going to happen. It was fine when he was injured playing hockey, the doctor would tell him how long he had to stop exercising and then when he was cleared, he could start working out again. But now that he was stabbed, there were a lot of questions that he wasn't sure was ever going to be answered.

Would his attacker ever be caught? Did anyone else see what happened? Were there any witnesses? What would their fans say?

James opened his mouth to start asking those questions but stopped when Logan looked away from him, taking a deep breath. He then studied Carlos, who looked like he had been crying, that was normal. But he was scared when he looked at Kendall. The leader of the group of friends looked downright pissed, but he had been crying too. That was a dangerous combination. The last time James saw him that way, was when his father left. Kendall had been in somewhat of a depressive-angry state for a long time and had gotten in a lot of trouble due to acting out. So it must have been bad if he looked that way now.

"What?" James whispered.

"It's nothing that you need to worry about right now." Kendall said quickly.

"What?" James repeated. "What is it?" He suddenly sat up straight, his hazel eyes widening. "Did something happen to my Mom and Dad? Are they ok?"

"Relax," Logan placed a hand on James's shoulder and forced him to lie back down. "Your parents are fine, they and my parents and Carlos' parents are on their way here as we speak."

"Oh," James relaxed a little and looked over at Kendall. "Mama Knight and Katie? Are they ok?" Kendall nodded. "Then what is it? Are our friends ok? What about Gustavo and Kelly? Are they here?"

"Kelly is outside with my Mom," Kendall said slowly. He exchanged another glance with Logan. "They're trying to figure out when you can go home and what to do about the press. You've been here for a while." He added.

"I bet Gustavo wasn't happy when he heard about this," James said slowly, noticing his friends hadn't mentioned him. "How come he's not screaming at me?"

Carlos suddenly let out a whimper and turned away as he wiped at his eyes. Kendall sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Logan, knowing that James wasn't going to stop asking questions until he answered them, took a deep breath and put a brave face on before turning to face him completely. "Gustavo isn't coming." He said slowly. "Something happened to him."

"What?" James breathed. He knew in his heart, in his _gut_ that something was wrong. "Logan, what happened?" Silence. "Logan, I swear to god, if you don't tell me, I won't be your friend anymore."

Kendall gave a hint of a smile at the childish threat.

"James," Logan sighed. "Gustavo is dead. He's…he's been murdered." James' eyes widened. "That's not the worst part," he added glumly. "We've…been framed for the crime. The police think we did it."

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**A/N: **And now we see how James is doing as well as us getting to the point of the story. Sorry it's a short chapter, things will pick up in the next one.

Cheers,

-Riles


	5. Chapter 5

**05**

* * *

_Logan always knew that whenever things were confusing, he needed to read between the lines. It worked whenever people were fighting, you take out the adjectives and all that you had left were the facts. What people were really feeling. What they were really arguing about. But this wasn't an argument, this was happening. This was fucking real. One of his friends are hurt, the other was dead and he didn't know if he could use his smarts to get to the bottom of it._

"I'm going to ask you again," the officer on duty, Officer Cavanaugh, said patiently. He leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. "Can you tell us what you were doing between eight last night and eight this morning."

Logan let out a sigh through his nose, trying his hardest not to show his annoyance. He knew how interrogations went. He made sure to have a vast knowledge about these sorts of things, just in case his friends ever got him in trouble.

He had been in the empty office that was now serving as an interrogation room, for the past hour. As soon as Kendall broke the news to them that Gustavo was dead, Kelly left the hospital. If it was to identify her partner's body or if it was to grieve in solitude, no one was sure, but she left quickly, Mrs. Knight had seemed to crash down into a chair and held her hands over her face. She was crying soon and Kendall was by her side, his arms around his mother, leaning against her and trying to stay positive for the two of them. That was always Kendall, the one that tried to be strong for others when he wanted to scream and rip things apart himself. Carlos, shockingly enough, was the only one besides Logan that was quiet. He seemed to have lost everything about him in that one moment. All of his cheerfulness that made Carlos who he is, was gone.

When they were finally able to see James, and when Logan told James what was really going on; That Gustavo had been murdered and they were framed for the crime, James closed his eyes. He stayed silent for a few moments, and then his eyelids twitched, tears falling down his cheeks. He silently wept as Kendall, Carlos, and Logan walked over and enveloped him in a four-way hug. The four of them stayed that while for a while, holding onto each other, holding onto their _brothers_ for dear life. Finally, they allowed Mrs. Knight in and she told him that their parents were on the way, gently stroking his hair out of his face, like she would do to Kendall when he was younger.

But that was Mama Knight, when they moved to LA; she took them all in as her own sons. She continued to sit there, quietly pushing James's hair out of his face as they waited for the inevitable. The police came quickly and they were led to separate rooms, Logan, Kendall, and Carlos to one, and James stayed in his room. Mrs. Knight was forced to leave James' room. At this point, she was probably calling everyone at the PalmWoods to relay to them what was going on.

As Logan rubbed his hands over his arms, he couldn't help but snort at the irony. For years he trailed after Kendall, Carlos, and James, telling them that they were going to get in trouble for some of the stupid stunts that they were pulling. It was the same thing each time. Kendall would come up with an idea, and Carlos would ask them how much trouble they would get in if they went along with it. No matter how badly the outcome would be, they always went and did it anyway, and Logan always tagged along (albeit, unwittingly) for the ride. In the end, he would make some remark about needing to get new friends, but he knew that deep down he wouldn't trade his best friends for the world.

Logan always thought that they would get him in trouble, but only for something that result in them doing community service, not actually have the police on their tails. He shook his head. That wasn't fair; they didn't do anything at all, how could he sit there and be a hypocrite? He took another breath, resting his hands on his stomach. He forced his voice not to quiver as he spoke.

"Last night at eight I was getting ready to go onstage with my best friends, my band mates." He cracked his knuckles. "Carlos, Kendall, and I were on the right wing of the stage and James was on the left. After we had left our dressing rooms to get ready to go on stage, all I saw was Kendall and Carlos. We got onstage; I noticed that something was wrong. Our fans in the audience looked scared. I looked over; wanting to ask Kendall or Carlos if they knew what was going on." He took a shuddery breath. "I saw Carlos running over to James; I knew it wasn't right, since we weren't supposed to move over to the other side of the stage yet. Then the backup band stopped, I could hear screaming in the audience, and I hurried over to James as well." Tears started to prick at Logan's eyes, the emotions and stress starting to get to him. "I saw his…blood dripping to the floor, and then we were all in a panic, trying to get some medical help. Next thing I knew, we were at the hospital. I guess I was driving pretty fast to get there so James wouldn't…."

Officer Cavanaugh nodded wordlessly as he wrote down everything that Logan was telling him. He didn't seem to be thinking anything, just moving in autopilot. Even his hand movements, the way that he scribbled his words across the page put an even greater toll on Logan.

The smart teenager slumped over in his chair and put his face in his hands as he started to cry quietly. It wasn't that James was stabbed that he was so upset over; it was that he was so scared. He was so scared when James was stabbed that he couldn't even lean over and press his hand over the wound, to help clot the blood. That was, like, the basics. If you wanted to be a doctor, you had to stay calm and keep a clear, level head when there was an emergency. But he choked! He legitimately froze, and it was Carlos that was trying to help him.

He just froze.

Whatever could have happened to James would have been his fault.

"Now," Officer Cavanaugh ignored the boy's tears. "Give me a step-by-step detail about what happened yesterday all the way through right now."

Logan lifted his head, wiping his tears away from his face. His lower lip trembled and he took a shallow breath. He looked right into the officer's eyes and became even more frightened. Officer Cavanaugh was staring hard at the boy, as if looking right through him; waiting for him to slip up. Logan could tell that he thought that the boys really _were_ responsible for what happened. The thought alone just made him want to break down even further.

What would Kendall do?

The thought suddenly popped in Logan's head. It usually happened when he was being teased by someone or when he was in a unfamiliar situation. He would think to what his best friend and leader would say or do to make the situation better. Logan thought hard. What _would_ Kendall do? Probably act like he did whenever he was asked about his father, talk coldly and quickly change the subject. Assert his dominance. That probably wouldn't work here, though. Logan wasn't mad at anyone apart from the person that had hurt James and Gustavo (if it was the same person). He had never really been mad at anyone before.

But now was a good time as any. Things were going to hell and he was being blamed for it.

Logan took a deep breath and steeled himself in front of Officer Cavanaugh. If the older man noticed Logan's change in demeanor, he didn't acknowledge it. He merely picked up his pen and placed it on the paper, readying himself to start writing.

Logan told him everything from hanging out with their friends that morning, to being practically stalked by his on/off girlfriend, Camille; after he had helped a new guy and his sister check in at the PalmWoods. He told him about how they went to do some last minute practicing at Rocque Records for the show that night (he couldn't help but notice Officer Cavanaugh's suspicion as he talked about it). He told him about how they went back to the crib and hung out for a while, answering fan-mail, before going over to the arena. He talked about them arriving at the arena, going straight into their sound check, got dinner, and then got dressed. Then he went over the incident and everything that had happened up until that point.

Through the whole thing, Officer Cavanaugh wrote and wrote. He only asked a few questions, for Logan to clarify when at exactly what time they went to Rocque Records. He asked again and again, why he did things this way and not that way, when everything broke out. Why did he not help James when he was the one that wanted to be a doctor? Why did he cradle James' head instead of laying him flat? Why didn't he call his parents as soon as they got to the hospital? Why weren't James' parents immediately notified? Why didn't he go in the ambulance? Did he speed on the way to the hospital? Was Katie left alone at the PalmWoods.

The questions flew rapidly, one right after another as if bullets shot from a gun.

Why? Why? Why?

Now, it was the silence that started to kill him. The questions he could handle, but not the silence. He couldn't stand how Officer Cavanaugh could sit there and accuse them of something so…_disgusting._

"You don't believe me do you?" Logan asked after a minute.

"It's not whether or not I believe you," Officer Cavanaugh replied sharply. "I'm trying to get to what happened to your friend and to Gustavo Rocque."

"But you think that we did it!" Logan jumped to his feet, his voice rising quickly. "How could we have gotten out of the hospital and killed Gustavo?"

"No one can say that they had seen you all night long, we need to cover all of our bases to be sure that we know what we're doing while we're handling this case." Officer Cavanaugh was as calm and cool as ever.

It was really starting to tick Logan off. "WHY WOULD WE KILL HIM?"

"You tell me!" Officer Cavanaugh got to his feet. "You have every motive! Everyone that we have spoken to has told us that you guys never had a great relationship with Gustavo Rocque." He picked up his notepad and started to look through it. "He called you monkeys, he called you dogs, he called you monkey-dogs. He belittled you, berated you, treated you like complete idiots on a daily basis. He worked you hard, harder than you have ever worked before, and everyone knows that you guys _hated it_." He threw down the notepad, the slapping sound that it made against the ground causing Logan to jump. "So, excuse us if we think that that's a little suspicious. The music producer that you never wanted to be with in the first place, who always treated you like shit, and now he mysteriously winds up dead." He stabbed Logan in the chest with his finger. "This is real life, boy, this is _really happening!"_

Logan resisted the urge to punch the Officer in the face. What did he know? He didn't know about their relationship with Gustavo at all. They would never want to cause Gustavo any harm. No matter how badly they were treated, they were partner in the industry. Gustavo was helping them and they were helping Gustavo. Gustavo had even _sold his mansions_ to make sure that he could keep the boys away from Griffin's rule (and be replaced by audio books).

"Now, tell me," Officer Cavanaugh picked up his notepad and walked back to the desk that was by the window overlooking the parking lot. Logan could see that the hospital was being taped off and that there were police cars and news vans all over the place. "Would Gustavo have a reason for someone to harm him?"

"No." Logan shook his head.

"Would you have a reason to harm Gustavo? Did any of you boys snap and think that you didn't deserve how he was treating you?" Officer Cavanaugh asked.

Logan hesitated. "We never really liked the way that we were treated, but we would never hurt him for it."

"Answer the question." Officer Cavanaugh pressed.

"No." Logan said firmly. "We would _never_ hurt Gustavo."

Officer Cavanaugh slowly leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, looking right into Logan's face. Looking right through him. "You say that we certainty. Are you absolutely sure? Are you sure that no one got angry and just snapped?"

"I'm sure."

"How?"

"Because we weren't just dogs to Gustavo." Logan tilted his head defiantly. "We were _his_ dogs."

* * *

**A/N: **A longer chapter for you guys. Have you decided who you think did it yet? Hopefully I don't make it too obvious. ;) Next three chapters are Kendall's, Carlos's, and James's interrogations.

Cheers,

-Riles


	6. Chapter 6

**06**

* * *

_James was never the kind of person that would give up when the going got tough. He would try to fix things himself or he would go to his friends to try and get help. But there was only so much that he could take. There was so much that anyone could take. Being accused of something you didn't do could take a lot out of you and could make you say some things that you could regret._

James usually prided himself on being independent and standing out from his friends. _He_ was the one that wanted to go out to LA and become famous. That was his dream ever since he was a kid, and his friends had supported that dream for as long as he could remember. It wasn't that it was a shock, his parents were so well known; his mother for being a big make-up mogul and his dad for being…well…cool. He got a lot of attention as it was, so he decided that if he was going to get attention, he might as well do it on his own terms.

What he didn't know was that one day it was going to cause him to end up in the hospital. Well, he thought about it from time to time, knowing that some rehearsal for a show, or some choreography, or just sheer exhaustion, was going to put him there eventually. He just didn't think that he would be put there for being harmed.

Now he was alone in his hospital room, without his friends, his brothers, his _support_ there, being interrogated about the death of Gustavo Rocque.

It would be funny if it wasn't so scary.

"Alright, I'm going to ask you one more time." Officer Nichols flipped to a blank page of his notepad. "Tell me everything that happened yesterday."

James sighed, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling. This was going to be the, probably, twentieth time he was going to have to tell his story. He knew it inside out and backwards at this point. _Why does he keep asking me this? _James shook his head. _If Logan were here, he would just say that it was standard procedure._ James sighed and moved his hands down to his side, where he stitches were, and pressed his hand against it in a sign of discomfort.

"Listen," Officer Nichols said as patiently as possible. "I know you're hurting. I know you're hurt, and I know you're upset that your friend has been…killed this way. But we're trying to figure out what happened. Your cooperation would be greatly appreciated."

"Why?" James asked dully. He was tired of fighting it. "You don't believe anything we say anyway." He shrugged. "Why bother?" Officer Nichols didn't reply. He tapped his pen against his notepad in a steady rhythm. James licked his dry, chapped lips and started to speak, his voice quiet. "What evidence do you have against us anyway?"

He wasn't sure if Officer Nichols was going to reply, but he finally reached into his pocket and pulled out another notepad. "Your interactions with each other, Gustavo's constant yelling, calling you names, berating you. Your _lack_ of respect for authority," His eyes flickered to James's face over the top of the notepad. "Your unwillingness to go record on occasions, and some physical things."

"What sort of-"James stopped when the Officer pulled a plastic baggie out of his pocket. Inside was a small comb.

Officer Nichols's smile was malicious when he noticed James slowly grow pale. "Do you know what this is?" He asked.

"My lucky comb," James replied, his voice hoarse. "Where'd you get that?" He slowly started to sit up. "I lost it in the crib days ago."

"Right, you _lost_ it." Officer Nichols put the bag away. "That's not the only thing we found at the scene of the crime. Now," he cracked his knuckles. "Tell us what happened the day of the concert."

"I woke up; Mrs. Knight woke me up because I was late. I ate breakfast, cereal and toast, and then went down to the lobby to hang out with my friends, Jo, Camille, Stephanie, Guitar Dude, and to hit on the Jennifers. We talked and hung out for a while, they were as excited about our show as we were. We talked about having to rehearse for the show later and they all promised that they would come see us do our sound check. Like, all of the PalmWoods was going to be there. We went back up to the crib-"

"Who's we?" Officer Nichols interrupted.

"Me, Kendall, Logan, Carlos, Jo, Camille, and Stephanie." James replied, thinking as hard as he could. "They were going to help us open and reply to our fan-mail. Katie, Kendall's sister, was there to help too. But I think she took stuff from us instead." He laughed lightly. "She's always trying to get money and stuff from us. But she means well. We opened fan-mail and hung out for most of the day, Mama Knight reminded us to get to Rocque Records. We went there, rehearsed, and then went to the arena. Ate dinner, hung out, did vocal work, and before we knew it, it was time to go onstage."

"Right, now tell me what happened." Officer Nichols prompted.

James closed his eyes.

_James waited offstage with Kendall, Logan, and Carlos as they waited for their opening call to be brought out onstage. Like he usually did before the show started, he was off by himself, trying to keep his nerves down. He was bouncing up and down on his toes, shaking his hands out, psyching himself up for the concert. All around him, stagehands were running back and forth, making sure that things were ready for the show._

_Wires were hanging all over the place, pumping electricity into the stands that they were going to be on, as well as to the floor of the stage; it was going to power the floor to open so the trampolines could be lifted from underneath the stage. This tour, it was bigger than anything they had ever done before, they were going to take all of the energy that they put into working as Big Time Rush into that show and they were going to give it to their audience. That energy was already coursing through James' body, amplifying his nerves that much more._

_But it seemed that everyone was nervous, for things were being checked and triple checked that night. It was the first night of the tour, so that was understandable. It seemed like the whole stadium was filled with nervousness, as if it knew what was going to happen before anybody else did._

_James looked up as a stagehand came his way, moving so fast that he didn't notice a wire on the ground in front of him and he tripped over it. He pitched towards James, his hands out, and James quickly moved to catch him before he hit the ground. "Hey, dude," James grinned as he grabbed the guy's shoulder, making sure the two of them were steady. "Are you alright?"_

_"Yeah," The man stood up and nodded, quickly touching the brim of his hat, his ring flashing in the dim lights as he did so. "Yeah, I'm good, thanks." He patted James on the shoulder. "Have a good show, tonight."_

_"Thanks_," James smiled and nodded back before he started to shake out his hands once more.

He opened his eyes once more. He could practically see himself falling down onstage and Carlos running to him as fast as possible. The thought of everything that happened started to rock his guts. He wanted to puke.

"At any time, were any of them away from you? Were you ever apart from your friends?" Officer Nichols asked.

"Only when we had to go to the arena and backstage and stuff," James whispered. "But they came with us, when we had to go, so the only time we were away from them was a couple of times backstage. They were in the VIP section."

"Did any of them have the motive to-"

"No, god, no." James whimpered, tears coming to his eyes. He tried to stop them, but they leaked out, creating salty trails down his cheeks. His eyes turned bloodshot. If the situation weren't so grave, he would try everything in his power to go back to his normal, good looks. Bloodshot eyes could make or break someone in LA, he knew that for sure. Rumors would spread quickly and before you knew it, half of your family could have died in a tragic car accident.

Either that or you were the one that was stuck with all of the rumors that _you _died.

"Were you ever alone for an extended period of time?" Officer Nichols asked.

"I didn't do it. None of them…none of _us_ did it. Ok, I wouldn't have. I _couldn't_." James' hands started to shake. A lump formed in his throat. He gasped for air, the hospital gown felt tight on him. His heart thudded against his chest and the nauseous feeling starting to take over. He leaned forward and held onto his stomach, holding his breath.

"Did any of them ever sneak off to-"

"No, I was with them the whole time!" He grabbed his forehead. "Gustavo wasn't even at the concert." "I don't know why. He _never _missed a concert. He said he had stuff to do. He never misses. "His hands started to tremor now. "I'm telling the truth, ok, I swear."

"You swear it?" Officer Nichols gave a barking laugh. "You _swear_ it!"

"James?" Logan suddenly appeared in the doorway to the room, looking back and forth between him and the officer. James relaxed a little, seeing his friend. He gave a pained smile, more tears falling down his face. Logan quickly noticed James' distress and started to walk towards him. "It's ok, James. I'm here."

"Get out of here, son." Officer Nichols demanded, pointing towards the doorway, his eyes still on James. Logan stopped in his tracks, but didn't do as he was told. His eyes continued to shift back and forth between his best friend and the Officer. "We're not through here."

"God, I'm sorry, ok?" James suddenly cried. He was sick and tired of the whole thing. He just wanted to see his family, to see that Gustavo was ok, and to go home. He didn't even want to know what his friends back at the PalmWoods were thinking, or his fans. Anything. He just wanted it to all be over.

Officer Nichols got up into James' face. "You're sorry?" he repeated. His voice started to rise as he continued to speak. "You're sorry? Listen boy. A man is dead and with the evidence of your guys' actions around him ever since you got out to LA as well as the evidence that was found in his office, you all are prime suspects and the _best_ you can manage is _I'm sorry?_"

As the accusations flew out of Officer Nichols' mouth, James' blood pressure started to rise. Logan's eyes shifted over to the monitors as they started to beep loudly, before slowly shuffling over to the two of him, his arms outstretched, ready to grab James in his arms. He had seen James get mad, especially after getting very worked up about things. He knew that something was going to happen that could potentially get used against him if this whole thing went to court; he needed to keep James calm.

"James, calm down, I'm right here." Logan said quietly. So quietly that his taller friend didn't hear him.

"WELL WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY?" James finally burst out. His face had gone red with the effort of his yell and his hazel eyes glowed with fury.

"Do you think saying 'I'm sorry' will bring him back?" Officer Nichols continued, ignoring James' outburst.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY? HELP ME FIX THIS!" James continued to yell.

"James." Logan grabbed onto James' arm.

"Do you think that will help?" Officer Nichols kept his eyes on James. "Do you?"

"I don't know," James continued to yell, leaning back on his pillow. His placed his hands over his face, his chest heaving up and down as his emotions started to take him over. "I don't know! God." He jammed his hands over his ears as Officer Nichols continued to speak, his voice getting louder and louder. Finally, James couldn't take it. With a scream, he sat up and got right into Officer Nichols' face, causing the older man to pull back. "I WISH I WAS DEAD!" He yelled in his face. "DOES THAT HELP? I WISH I WAS DEAD! I wish whoever killed my friend, or stabbed me, killed me! Ok, I wish, I was dead." With that, James slumped against his pillows, holding his hands over his face once more.

"James," Logan pushed Officer Nichols back out of the way and climbed onto the bed with his friend, making sure not to harm him in any way. He stretched out and took James into his arms, pulling his friend's head against his chest as he started to sob. "It's ok." He whispered, holding onto his friend tightly. "It's ok; everything's going to be ok."

Logan looked over at Officer Nichols, a challenging look in his eyes. Officer Nichols looked back at him, his features twisted in disgust and resignation. He turned and walked to the door, opening it. A nurse was standing outside, dutifully listening to her orders of not coming in, no matter what she heard.

Logan couldn't hear everything that Officer and nurse was saying, but he did manage to hear the words "suicide watch" being used. The nurse looked into the room and nodded. Officer Nichols looked back into the room, he locked eyes with Logan once more, before his eyes moved downcast, and he reached in and closed the door.

Logan took in a deep breath, tears coming to his eyes as well. James shook in his arms, silently sobbing. "It's alright," Logan continued to whisper to him. He leaned forward and kissed the back of the brunette's head. "It's alright, James. Everything's going to be alright."

"I'm sorry." James whispered. "I'm sorry, Gustavo."

* * *

**A/N: **For those of you that don't follow us on twitter, I put up a tweet saying this story is going to be 10-12 chapters long. Also, I got some of the lines in this from Kyle Gallner's episode of The Closer.

In cool news, my sisters and I wrote a book together and it's published on . Go to Amazon, type in Two Pair Quadruplets, and it's the first link that comes up. You can get it on Kindle, Kindle Fire, IPad, IPhone, and I think other tablets. So please get it and let us know what you think.

Cheers,

-Riles


	7. Chapter 7

**07**

* * *

_Kendall never liked authority. He never liked having to listen to someone he didn't respect. He was automatically told to respect his teachers and his elders and more often than not, he couldn't do it. He respected his hockey coach and that seemed to it. He defied everyone else and he had a tendency to act stronger than he actually was. More often than not, that got him into a lot of trouble, but this time, it may have worked in his favor._

The room was silent. The calm before the storm, Kendall thought to himself as he watched the officer in front of him, look through a stack of papers. His mind was all over the place, he wanted to get to James, but he knew that he wasn't going to get out anytime soon. He wanted to get his mother, so he could comfort her while they waited for James to be released or for his parents to get to California. He wanted to get to his sister, so he was sure that she was ok. James and Gustavo had already been hurt, one was dead, and he was sure that it was going to be one more of those that were close to him that was going to be next.

He tried to think hard about who could have been behind the attacks, but he couldn't think about it without starting to cry again. That was how he knew that things were really bad, he hardly ever cried. He didn't even cry when his father left him and his family, he just stepped up and started to act like the man of the house, like he did when his father was gone on business trips. But his father could come back whenever he wanted, Gustavo couldn't. If they hadn't reacted quick enough, maybe James wouldn't have either.

Kendall thought back to when they were in the ambulance.

"_We need to get him to the hospital, quickly. He's losing a lot of blood." An EMT barked as he and his partner wheeled James over to a waiting ambulance on a stretcher. _

_Logan, Carlos, and Kendall hurried out of the arena after them. People were milling around, talking quietly, trying to figure out what was going on. Some fans were crying, others were screaming, cameras were flashing all over the place. They knew that the news had to have broken out over ScuttleButter, Tumblr, and all over the internet at the point, as they made social networking sites big when it came to their concerts. It wouldn't take long for it to be on the news either; he could already hear the sirens getting closer. Soon the arena was going to be blocked off and people were going to be questioned. There was no way that they were going to keep them quiet._

"_Is James going to be ok?" Kendall asked as the driver opened the back doors to the ambulance so James could be loaded inside. His hazel eyes were staring up at the sky and Kendall could see a glint in the corner of his eye, a tear._

"_We won't know until we get him to the hospital." The driver replied. He looked back at the three boys. "Which one of you is going to come with us?"_

_Kendall hesitated and turned back to Logan and Carlos. Logan looked stressed to the point that he was pale and looked like he was going to puke at any second. Carlos was shaking, blood was on his hands and on the front of his shirt and he looked like he was seconds away from breaking down completely. Kendall wasn't that far from breaking down either. His heart was thudding so fast he wondered if he was having a heart attack and his hands were covered in sweat. No matter how many times he would wipe them off on the sides of his pants, they would just flood all over again._

"_Carlos, you go." He finally managed to say. His swallowed thickly, his throat dry._

"_No," Carlos wrung his hands together, the blood smearing onto his skin. "You go."_

"_James is going to need you," Logan added firmly. "You're our leader for a reason, dude. He's going to need your strength."_

"_But-"_

"_Whichever one of you decides to go, we need to go now!" The driver said, holding one of the doors open. Inside, the two EMTs were working fast, putting James's face in an oxygen mask and hooking him up to other machines._

"_Go!" Logan pushed Kendall._

_Kendall nodded and climbed into the back of the ambulance, giving a quick wave to Logan and Carlos, who turned around, disappearing into the crowd to try and find Kelly so they could get to the hospital. As the door closed, Kendall turned to James and leaned forward so he was sure that his friend could see him._

"_Don't worry, James, I'm here." Kendall said, placing a hand on his friend's chest, hoping that he could feel the warmth of his hand. He used his other hand to grab onto James's hand that lay limply at his side. James moved his eyes over to Kendall and Kendall could see that he was scared, more scared than he had ever seen him before. But he could see a sense of relief, knowing that Kendall was there, James knew that things were going to be ok. Kendall moved his hand off of James's chest and placed it on the other side of James's hand that was clasped into his, holding onto it tightly._

"_I'm here, James. And I'm not going to let go."_

Kendall leaned forward and rested his face in his hands, gritting his teeth as he tried to hold back the scream that was threatening to erupt form his body. If he ever got his hands on who did this to his best friend…

Officer Scott was standing behind the door to the empty examination room, watching Kendall. One of the things that he learned quickly when it came to interrogations was that it was easier for him to get what he wanted if he gave them time to sit and stew in their own thoughts. After what he thought was a considerable amount of time, he watched as Kendall finally seemed to calm down. The blond leaned back in his seat and rested his hands in his lap. Officer Scott composed himself and walked into the room. He pulled out a chair from the doctor's desk and sat across from Kendall.

"Why hello there officer," Kendall said, not looking up. He spoke in an indifferent tone, as if this was the norm for him. "Are you ready to ask me even more questions that I already told you the answer to when you first got here? Oh, that's right," he turned his green eyes, which were now steely with self-contained rage, over to the officer. "You think that my friends and I killed Gustavo. Could you care to explain how we would have tried to cover it up by stabbing James as well? I'm sure you have an idea."

"How's you do it, Kendall?" Officer Scott asked. He was taking the straightforward approach.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, officer," Kendall said casually.

"I believe you do, Kendall, and the evidence clearly shows you do." Officer Scott crossed his arms over his chest. "There was evidence all over the place and everyone knows that you were the one that had the most problems with authority, with Gustavo. So, what was your motive? Why and how did you do it?"

"Exactly what evidence do you have?" Kendall asked in agitation. He had all of a sudden turned defensive. Maybe not defensive, maybe offensive. He was tired, that much was obvious and understandable, and he probably hadn't slept since the concert. Officer Scott was just trying to get to the bottom of what happened and whether or not he believed the teenager's story, he was hoping to get some insight into another angle of what could have happened.

Officer Scott pushed forward a file folder of crime scene photos he had carried with him into the room and flipped it open.

"These are photos of Gustavo's building, Rocque Records. More specifically, his office and the hallway to the office. See these bloodstains on the floor?" Officer Scott pointed a finger at the photograph. "These stains are Gustavo's blood." Kendall closed his eyes and turned away. "Almost all of it. And see here?" Officer Scott pointed again, waiting for Kendall to open his eyes and looked again. This time he was pointing to another photograph. "These here are Gustavo's hairs. We found them on articles of your clothing, along with bloodstains on those same clothes. All the evidence points to you, Kendall."

"My clothes?" Kendall repeated, blinking slowly. "How could they be on _my_ clothes?"

"We know you did it, Kendall, there's no secret. How did you kill him?"

"I have an alibi," Kendall said suddenly. "If I wasn't with my friends, I was in the bathroom or working on my dance moves." He shrugged. "I'm not the best dancer." He explained. "I was with Carlos and Logan before the show started. I was with James in the ambulance when we were going to the hospital. I was waiting with my mom, Logan, and Carlos when James was put inside. I answered some questions with the police officers. Now I'm here, I couldn't have done it."

"James's 'lucky comb', Logan's calculator, and one of Carlos's helmets were left at the scene." Officer Scott said slowly. "And blood stains were found on your clothes, how do you explain that?"

"Our stuff had gone missing days before." Kendall said quietly, as if he was thinking. "From our apartment. 2J in the PalmWoods."

Officer Scott wrote down some notes. "Does anyone have access to your apartment?" He noticed Kendall's silence and pressed on. "Well?"

"The PalmWoods is always so safe…" Kendall shook his head, looking at his lap, his blonde hair hanging over his face. "We never lock the door unless we're going to sleep. Even when no one is home. So I guess…someone could have gone in and…"

"Do you know anyone that could have potentially framed you for this crime?"

"No," Kendall shook his head.

"Anyone that you may have wronged in the past?" Officer Scott continued. "Anyone that could have wanted to see you suffer? Anyone that-"

"No," Kendall burst out. "No! I _don't_ know _who_ would want to do something like this! All I know is," He squeezed his eyes shut. "Whoever did this, is no friend of mine."

Officer Scott continued to study Kendall. He wasn't sure whether or not he believed him. There was a chance that he was telling the truth and there was a chance that he was lying. He had been on many cases where the guilty were proven innocent because they could lie well. He had seen many innocent charged with things that they didn't do for the exact same reason. But now…the evidence was staggering, and no one could say that they saw each other all night long. The hospital could be a pretty boring place, and if you were bored enough, you could stray away for hours at a time.

So what was going on here?

"Come in," Officer Scott called as there was a knock on the door. He looked up as an older man opened the door and stood in the doorway, his hands behind his back. "Yes, Sergeant Johnson? What is it?" He asked respectively as he sat up straight. Kendall looked over at him.

"Some more footage has come up from the concert," Sergeant Johnson replied. "Two more angles, one hand-held camera from a fan, and another from a mounted camera." He explained. "Plus, there's something else that you need to see."

Officer Scott's eyebrows raised and he turned to Kendall, who looked back at him, defiantly. Officer Scott stood up and placed his hands loosely on his hips. As he continued to look at Kendall, he held out a hand and pointed it towards the door.

"You're done for now."

* * *

**A/N: **So, I decided this story will be 10 chapters long. It was originally gonna be 12, but then I realized that I can push everything into the last two chapters. All that's left is Carlos's interrogation and then you're one step closer to finding out who did it.

Cheers,

-Riles


	8. Chapter 8

**08**

* * *

_Carlos was the kind of person that trusted anyone until you gave him reason not to. He would believe you if you said that you had lost five dollars and needed to borrow some just to pay for lunch. He was also the most sensitive and the one that seemed to be bullied and picked on the most when he was growing up. It was probably where he got his obsession with his helmet. No one knows for sure. What they did know was that while naive Carlos could act at times, he was actually one of the smartest people that anyone had known._

"Let's try this again." Officer Rivers said as he leaned forward and looked directly in Carlos's eyes. He could see the fear there, he knew that he was going to crack him soon. "Why did you do it?

Carlos clenched his teeth, trying to hold it together. He understood, this was an official investigation. He had seen enough of them on TV and in movies to know that they were just trying to get info. From what he could understand, everything was stacked again him, so it made sense that they were pushing him (and maybe his friends) to just admit it. It was obvious no one believed them. So he was going to have to be sure that they did.

"I didn't…" He said as confidently as possible. His voice cracked at the end.

Officer Rivers was suddenly very impatient. He had seen the photos from the scene of the crime, he had seen the evidence that was presented against the boys. He had seen all of the footage that had been captured from the concert, something wasn't adding up. There was too long of a gap that the first three boys came onstage than the taller one did that was keeping them from completely figuring out what was going on. The sooner that that happened, the better. The sooner they could figure everything out, the sooner they could close the case. Officer Rivers leaned back in his seat and rubbed his eyes. It had been a long day for all of them and nothing was getting done.

"Listen! It's been a long day kid. Just tell us, what we want to know, so we can all go home." He said, placing the tape recorder closer to Carlos.

Carlos frantically shook his head, tears coming to his eyes once more. "I told you, I didn't do anything." He choked back a sob. "_We _didn't do anything."

"But you see? We don't believe you." Officer Rivers started to tap a pen on the desk in a rhythm, hoping that the continuous sound would strike him in some way. "So we're gonna keep asking." Carlos clasped his hands over his ears.

"Stop it!" He whimpered. "We wouldn't do anything like that to Gustavo. He was our _friend. _We loved him."

Officer Rivers shook his head. "You don't kill the ones you loved." He said pointedly.

"Exactly." Carlos said hoarsely.

Suddenly the door opened and Carlos turned and watched as Kendall walked into the room. His eyes held determination and anger. He went over to Carlos and wrapped his arms around his friend as he finally broke down into sobs. Carlos clung onto Kendall like a baby koala on its other and cried hard, tears falling down his face and soaking Kendall's shirt.

"I'm sick of this!" Officer Rivers practically screamed, his face turning red with the effort. He pointed an accusing finger at Kendall and Carlos, the appendage shaking. "_Just Tell us or-"_

"There's nothing to tell!" Kendall shouted back, over Carlos' sobs.

"There's nothing to tell." Carlos agreed, his body racking with his sobs. It took him several moments to contain himself before he could even start speaking. I don't even know what happened to him. Only that she was murdered. It hasn't even been a day and already you think we, my friends and I, are suspects.. You guys haven't even given us time to grieve. You're questioning us, while our friend's killer is getting away. Why?"

"There's always something that's not being told, that's not being explained." Officer Rivers replied, his voice still loud. "And there's something that you guys aren't telling us and we're going to get it out of you." He gritted his teeth, letting out a slight sigh. "Alright," he held up his hands and took a step forward. Kendall, instinctively, moved in front of Carlos, shielding him with his body. "Let's say you are telling the truth. Who would want to harm James. Would kill Gustavo and why?"

"I don't know." Carlos replied truthfully. "Sure, we have some enemies, but in the music industry, who doesn't? I don't know who would want to hurt him purposefully."

"Except for Hawk." Kendall pointed out.

"We've already questioned Hawk and he's been out of the country with his family for the past week on vacation. "Officer Rivers said patiently.

"Other than Hawk, Griffin didn't have any enemies." Carlos used his hands to wipe the tears off of his cheeks. Maybe someone is trying to get to us. Why else would they hurt James?"

Officer Rivers nodded slowly. That was a possibility. It could have been a crazy fan, they came with the territory of being famous. But then how would they be able to get backstage and have such an extensive knowledge of who did what and where to go? That was the part that was stumping everyone. "Okay then, who would be trying to get to you? What enemies do you have?"

"I don't know." Carlos sighed warily. His eyes were starting to burn and his hands were hurting from how hard he was holding onto Kendall. The only sense of comfort that he had was that Kendall was holding onto him just as tightly.

"Yeah, and that's why we don't believe you." Officer Rivers now turned hard once more. He slammed his fists on the table. "You're gonna rot in jail if you don't give us some answers." He started towards the door.

"Wait!" Carlos cried desperately. "Wait, just, wait." He gently pushed Kendall away from him. "Ok, let me think." He said quietly. "You have footage from three different angles, our stuff was at Rocque Records…" he raised his head. "Maybe James was stabbed so it would be a distraction to what would happen to Gustavo." He cleared his throat and looked over at Kendall, who nodded, seeming to have the same thought he did.

"And maybe they had our stuff to go and plant it there to frame us for it." Kendall agreed.

"And if there were cameras all over the place-"Carlos started.

"Someone has to have footage of the person taking off the clothes that were found there and slipped away." Officer Rivers jumped in. "Blending in with the crowd of people who were at the concert."

"Maybe, the person that did this wasn't trying to get away with it," Kendall said suddenly. "Maybe he's just waiting to strike again. For some sick enjoyment, it may be a fantasy that they're living out." He shrugged. "Fans has told us some pretty weird things in fan-mail."

"You said that you just recently got some fan-mail that you were working on answering to the night of the concert?" Officer Rivers took out a notepad and started to jot everything down. "Any of them that jumped out at you?"

"Not really." Kendall shrugged. "We were hanging out with our friends and my sister as we were working on it, so we got distracted pretty easily. Besides, as lousy as this is to say, we don't really have time to actually read all of our fan-mail anymore."

"Wait!" Carlos yelped. His eyes were wide and were shifting back and forth, as if he was reading from a page in front of him. All of a sudden, his face crumpled and he moved his face into his hands. "No, no, no, no, no!" He started to say over and over again.

"Carlos," Kendall moved back to Carlos's side, putting an arm around him, holding him tightly. "It's alright, I'm here, bud. What's wrong?"

"I think…" Carlos whispered, tears dangling on his eyelashes. "I think I know who did it."

He closed his eyes and allowed the tears to drop to the floor…

* * *

**A/N: **Oooh, one step closer to figuring out who it is. Have you guys guessed it yet? There's a clue in each chapter, some repeating some not. You'll find out in the next one.

Cheers,

-Riles


	9. Chapter 9

**09**

* * *

_Never in any of their lives did the boys think that someone so close to them would do something like this. They thought that they made good friends that they could trust with their lives. But it just goes to show you that not everyone can be trusted, not everyone is going to be your friend, and that there are some crazy people in Hollywood..._

"James, are you sure that you're well enough to come with us?" Kendall asked, holding out his arms to steady James as he moved to get out of the bed.

"Yes, I'm sure." James replied heatedly, his eyes flashing. "I want to see the person that did this to me and to Gustavo." He turned to Carlos, who was quietly standing in the corner of his room, chewing on his bottom lip. "If Carlos says he knows who it is, then I think he knows."

Kendall sighed and nodded, still hovering by James' bed. The hospital had cleared him to leave for the next day, if they knew that he was sneaking out this early, they would probably be in a lot of trouble. It was just as well that if Mrs. Knight found out, they would be in even _more _trouble than they would with the hospital staff. That's why they waited until it was late at night and Mrs. Knight went back to the PalmWoods to check on Katie. They had everything organized with the police and would be meeting them later. Now they just had to wait for James to get dressed and they could get going.

"How do the stitches feel?" Logan asked as he watched James slowly change from the hospital gown to the t-shirt and jeans that Mrs. Knight had brought over at het news that he was going to be released soon.

"It doesn't hurt much," he replied with a grunt. "Only when I move too fast or accidentally bump into it." He flipped his hair out of his face as he slid his jeans on over his hips, moving his hands to the front to zip and button them. "It itches more than anything."

"That'll go away soon," Logan nodded, as if it was to be expected. "In the meantime, if that feeling ever comes back, all you have to do is use a blow-dryer to blow cold air onto it. It works when your skin itches when you're wearing a cast, so I think it'll work here as well."

"Knowing him, he's just going to use the blow-dryer on his hair." Kendall replied and he and Logan laughed. It was a weak attempt at a joke, they both knew that. But it was better to laugh and think about something funny rather than what they were going to be doing. Kendall turned and placed a hand on James's shoulder, squeezing it gently. "Are you ready?" James took a deep breath and nodded. "Ok," he turned to Carlos. "We're ready."

"Great," Carlos said unenthusiastically. He walked over to the window on the side of James's room and quiet opened both sides, pushing them out as far as they would go. They had tested it before; the space was big enough for all of them to fit through. They just had to be sure that they were quiet and stealthy so no doctor or nurse heard them and broke into the room, wondering what was going on. "Let's go." Carlos lifted himself up onto the window frame and shimmied out the window before gently lowering himself to the grass below.

Kendall and Logan went after him, moving quickly. They then waited for James, who went very slowly. He didn't want to risk ripping his stitches for two reasons; the first being that he _hated_ needles and doctors in general, so the fact that he was unconscious when he got to the hospital was a blessing for him, the second being that he didn't want to have to wait so long for his wound to heal. Even when he played hockey non-stop, if he was hurt, he took one day off and then was back, trying to push through the pain to make sure that he could play again. This time though, he knew that it was serious and that things wouldn't work as smoothly as when he was playing hockey.

Carlos watched, wringing his hands together as Kendall and Logan moved forward and grabbed onto James's arms, steadying him as the rest of his long frame was pulled out of the window. He let out a sigh of relief when both feet were planted firmly on the ground. The four boys looked around before quietly moving towards the front of the hospital, keeping their heads low, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. When they reached the front, they went to the parking lot and walked over to a white van that was parked a few spaces away from other cars. Kendall took a step forward and knocked on the side door.

The door was quickly pulled open and Sergeant Johnson stepped outside. He stood up and looked around before looking down at the four boys. "Did anyone see you?" He asked before making a motion with his arm. Two young looking officers gout of the van and started to put microphones on the boys.

"No, we did exactly as you told us to do." Kendall replied, speaking clearly.

Carlos didn't think that he would be able to talk if he was asked a direct question. He never thought that one day he was going to be facing the killer of one of his friends. He didn't think that anything like this was going to happen to them at all. He believed that they were going to go to LA and become rich and famous and live life happily ever after. Not have to deal with a betrayal as big as this one. He shook his head as tears of frustration came to his eyes once more.

_Don't cry now, _he lifted his head, wiping the tears away. _You have to stay strong if you want this to end tonight. Don't let them see how upset you're getting._

"Good," Sergeant Johnson nodded before looking at his watch. The face glinted in the moonlight. "There's not much time until the hospital staff wants to go and look at James again, but we'll have someone stationed outside with strict orders that they can't go in. That should give you enough time to get the confession that we need."

The four boys nodded quietly as the microphones were placed on the collars of their shirts. The wires ran down the microphones to the battery pack that was then hooked to the back of their pants. Sergeant Johnson tested all four of them and waited for the two younger officers to let him know that their equipment was working before speaking once more.

"We have three police cars at the meeting place," he said. "So if you're in any danger, there will be someone to help you in a matter of seconds. As soon as we get the confession, they're going to be on you guys, so don't be scared." He cracked his knuckles and turned to Carlos. "Now, are you _sure_ that-"

"Yes," Carlos nodded firmly. "I'm sure."

"Good," Sergeant Johnson looked at his watch once more. "You boys better get going."

"Right," Kendall nodded and turned back to his friends. "Let's go." Placing a hand on James's back he started to walk across the street towards the bus stop. Logan and Carlos walked along behind him, instinctively falling back into the pattern that they had lived in their whole lives. Kendall was the leader, the one that was going to protect them. And this time, he was going to be the one that led them to the biggest confrontations of their lives.

They got onto the bus and took the twenty minute ride in silence. Each of them were thinking about what they were going to say when they found out the truth. It would either be a good meeting or a bad one. They were either going to be wrong and figure out who did it or be right and be ashamed and saddened for the rest of their lives. And Kendall, Logan, and James knew that no one would be as saddened as Carlos would be.

James closed his eyes, leaning his head on Kendall's shoulder as he sat next to him. Part of him wondered why he didn't listen to the gut feeling he had the morning of the concert that something bad was going to happen. But it wasn't like he knew _exactly_ what it was going to be. It wasn't his fault, it just happened and it just had to happen to him. James closed his eyes as he moved closer to Kendall and placed his face in his neck, Kendall moved his arm around James's shoulders, feeling him shaking. Kendall didn't have to say anything, he just sat there, rubbing James's shoulder.

Carlos was looking out the window, watching as buildings flashed by him, not sure if what they were doing was the right thing.

"It'll be fine, Carlos." Logan said quietly. "You know that we have to do this, for Gustavo."

"Yeah," Carlos nodded. "I know."

The bus pulled up at the second to last stop and the guys got out, walking down the street a little bit until they reached the street corner. That's where Carlos said that they were going to meet. He thought it was a weird place, kind of in the middle of nowhere, but the Sergeant said that it would be better if they went where no one would interrupt them. As soon as Carlos figured out who the murderer was, he told Officer Rivers his idea and they brought Sergeant Johnson in. They made up the plan for that night in about ten minutes, not it was all going to come into play.

"How long are we going to wait?" James asked, rubbing his arms. The t-shirt that he was wearing was giving him little to no protection against the chill in the air.

"As long as we need to." Logan replied somberly.

They didn't have to wait long, in five minutes they heard footsteps coming their way. James held his breath and looked at his friends for comfort before shoving his hands into his jeans pockets. It was now or never, he was going to confront who did this to him and his friend. There was no turning back now.

"How'd you know it was me?" Stephanie asked as soon as she came into the light of the street lamp. She wasn't smiling or frowning, she was scared or angry. She looked passive, as if she was talking to the boys about their homework. "I thought I made it really hard to figure out." Wordlessly, Carlos reached into his pocket and pulled out her ring, he looked at it for a second before tossing it over to her. "Ah, I was looking _everywhere_ for that."

"I know," Carlos said hollowly. "I gave it to your for Christmas." He took a deep breath. "I found it at the arena the day of the stabbing. I was going to give it back to you, but then it completely left my mind as I was being constantly interrogated by the police." He shook his head. "I didn't think that you would do it." A wave of sadness washed over him and he placed his face in his hands.

"But that wasn't the only thing that ultimately led the clues back to you," Logan spoke up, seeing that Carlos couldn't continue. "First it was the cameras, the news team got footage of what happened pretty quickly. We knew that you were going to be filming the concert, but it took until later for us to realize that it was yours because after you took the extra audio away, you could hear Jo's and Camille's voices on the tape and they went to the concert with you." He cleared his throat. "As for how you were able to get backstage and to James, that's easy considering you can get back there just by using our names since you're our friend," he winced on the word, now knowing that it wasn't able to be used anymore. "so they wouldn't question you if you were back there, the crew would have thought that you were going to see Carlos."

"Go on." Stephanie prompted. "I'm sure you have it all figured out."

"And you knew your way backstage because we've been doing shows in California for so long and having you guys backstage that you should know it by the back of your hand by now." Logan continued. "That and because a cinematographer has to know his setting to be able to make a good film."

"You got our clothes from our apartment because you've been there enough times to know that we never keep it locked." Kendall continued. "You know where all of our stuff is and you know everything that's important to us, so you could take our stuff and use it as evidence to frame us for the crime." He took a deep breath, thinking for a moment. "You also know about how much we, at first, didn't like working with Gustavo and how much we hated to be yelled at and berated by him. So you used that knowledge to your advantage. You also knew that you could blame it on a crazy fan, as you had gone through our fan-mail and even helped us respond to it numerous times. So you knew how weird some fans could get."

"But here's the real interesting part," Logan spoke up once more. "Why you decided to go for James instead of one of the rest of us." He stayed silent, waiting to see if Stephanie would want to explain it, but she held out a hand, waiting for him to continue. "You knew that Carlos would see your ring and know that it was you so you disposed of it after you attacked James, you knew that Kendall would immediately recognize you from your acting, since he can always tells whenever someone is faking, since he's so bad at it." Logan squinted a little. "And you knew that I would recognize you since we've been around the crew so much, I can always tell whenever someone is new. Plus, you're significantly shorter than our mostly male crew." He crossed his arms over his chest. "So James was the better choice, before a show, you know he's usually the last one out, so that means he would most likely be alone and you took advantage of that."

Stephanie slowly started to clap, a impressed smile on her face. "Wow, you guys are better than I thought." She grinned as she placed her hands on her hips. "And I knew that you guys were smart when you helped with my no-budget movie to scare Bitters away." She smiled sweetly. "Anyway, after the success of that movie, I thought of making another one and here we are."

"What movie?" Carlos asked.

"Have you never heard of a snuff film?" Stephanie snorted as she rolled her eyes. Kendall, Carlos, and James shook their heads before turning to Logan, who had turned pale, his face screwing up with disgust.. "I'm not surprised," she said after a minute of the boys staying quiet, whether it was from complete shock or disgust, she wasn't sure, nor did she care. "Why not ask Mr. Logan Mitchell over here, I'm sure he knows what it is."

Logan, who now started to shake, swallowed thickly before stammering out an answer. "A snuff film is a movie genre that depicts the actual murder of a person or people, without the aid of special effects, for the express purpose of distribution and entertainment or financial exploitation."

James closed his eyes briefly before opening them and looking at Stephanie with complete and utter disgust. He had been hurt just for the sake of a new movie genre that she was trying to get done? That was wrong, so wrong and yet…it seemed to me make sense for her. She always had somewhat of a darker sense of humor, plus it was her obsession with horror movies and novels. She was completely crazy, but no one had thought that she was _this _crazy.

"How could you do something like that?" he whispered, opening his eyes again.

"There's big money in those kinds of movies and you guys were saying that you didn't like Gustavo anyway." She shrugged. "So I did you all a favor. You can't deny that."

"But you stabbed me!" James snapped, his voice cracking slightly.

Stephanie shrugged again, as if she was taking a stroll in the park. Nothing was fazing her; it was as if her emotions had been completely taken away as soon as she had gotten her idea for her new movie. "People will pay big money to watch some of most popular icons of today's time getting hurt." She then smiled. "Besides, it wouldn't be a horror movie if only _one_ person got hurt."

That was all that was needed to say. In a few seconds, police officers were swarming out of nowhere, descending upon Stephanie. She didn't look concerned at first, but when James pulled the microphone off of his shirt collar and waved it back and forth, her eyes widened and she looked scared. Before she could even more to make a run for it, she was grabbed by two, burly looking officers and had handcuffs slapped onto her wrists. Her voice was shrill and pleading as she was walked over to a police car and put inside. The boys watched as the cars started up and drove away.

"So," Carlos turned his friends once the police cars were out of sight. "What do we do now?"

**THE END**

* * *

**A/N: **Did you guys guess correctly about who it was? I hope that you guys enjoyed the story even though it was so short. It was originally gonna be a longer story, but I thought it over and realized it would be better as a short one. Just like my story _Fairy Tale Nightmare_ I decided to give it a not-so-happy ending because not all stories can end happily.

Thanks for all of the support, reviews, favorites, and alerts. I hope you liked the story!

Cheers,

-Riles


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